Parametric Analysis of Electric Discharge Machining of Hybrid Composite Materials

Abstract

This study is an attempt to investigate the influences of input variables like voltage (V), current (I), pulse on time (Ton), pulse off time (Toff) and spark gap (Sg) on the response parameters such as material removal rate (MRR) of the electrodischarge machining (EDM) of Al-SiC-B4C-Mg as a hybrid composite workpiece material using copper electrode as a tool material. The hybrid composite material has been developed by stir casting route with 84%(wt) Aluminum 6063, SiC of micron size 45 µm in 10%(wt), B4C of micron size 52 µm in 5%(wt) and Mg in 1%(wt). The trend of graph advocates that MRR increases with increase in voltage, current and pulse on time, but MRR decreases with increase of pulse off time. Moreover, it has also been observed that the highest value of MRR was found in pulse off time at 3 µs and current at 13 A and the lowest MRR was obtained at 40 V.